I have a variable length file which shows up on the mainframe as depicted under "input" below.There appear to be periods between variables, which I think are unprintable characters that represent tabs.The reason I think this is that when I do a search for "." the only instances the search finds are the decimal pointsin the 13th variable. There are some fields where every value is blank (e.g., the 3rd variable).

I would like to turn the file into a fixed length file, where each instance of a given variable starts in the same column (e.g. the id starts in column 1, the location starts in column 10 and so on). (The output below is not showing up exactly as I want it to because of the variable spacing of the font.)

Here's what the file looks like in hex (the first 3 records):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

You would have to use DFSORT's PARSE function to create the fixed length file, but it won't be automatic. You will have to set up a %nn variable for each "field" with its appropriate FIXLEN length. You can use ENDBEFR=X'05' to find the delimiter for each field. You can set up to 100 %nn fields this way (%00-%99).

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